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Google expands ad reach with Dish

Google got deeper into the TV ad business Tuesday by way of a partnership with EchoStar Communications and its 13.1 million Dish Network subscribers. The terms of the agreement, financial details of which were not disclosed, call for Dish to supply Google with a small portion of its advertising inventory for Google to auction off to advertisers.

EC: Apple's iTunes violates fair competition

BRUSSELS — The European Commission has accused Apple Inc. and the four major record companies of a possible violation of competition rules via Apple's iTunes online music store. European consumers are able to download music from the iTunes site only in their country of residence, and prices differ from country to country within the 27-nation European Union. Customers can buy songs only in the country where their credit card is registered. EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes is thought to see this as a possible violation of the EU's rules against restrictive business practices.

DeVitre upped at Warner cable unit

Mark DeVitre has been promoted to senior vp business affairs and operations at Warner Bros. Domestic Cable Distribution, reporting to WBDCD president Eric Frankel. DeVitre will serve as the senior business executive for WBDCD, which supplies programming to premium and basic cable networks and licenses theatrical motion pictures to the broadcast networks. DeVitre, who had been vp sales since November 2003, will oversee all of the business and legal affairs activities of the division.

Goodman sued for breach of contract

German indie Constantin Film filed a $3 million breach of oral contract lawsuit Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court against John Goodman, claiming that the actor reneged on a February agreement to portray Pope Sergius in the movie "Pope Joan." Goodman would have been paid $500,000 for six weeks work but notified Constantin on March 14 that he wouldn't participate in the project, according to the suit. Principal photography was to have begun in May, it states.

1 dead, 1 hurt in shooting at CNN Center

NEW YORK — CNN and CNN Headline News found itself reporting live Tuesday on a deadly shooting close to home: inside the building that houses its downtown Atlanta television center. The incident occurred at about 1:30 p.m. at the Marrietta Street entrance to the Omni Hotel, which is part of the CNN Center complex that also includes CNN's headquarters and the studios. Sources said a man and woman got into an argument near the escalators, and the man pulled out a gun and fired two shots. Turner Broadcasting System Inc. security officers responded, and one guard shot the suspect. The woman was killed, and her ex-boyfriend was critically wounded. Turner security guards normally carry weapons, TBS said.

Krane, Rogers put 'Unmade' on Edge

Producers Jonathan D. Krane and Beau Rogers will begin production in the summer on the mob thriller "Unmade Man" through the Edge, their new financing, production and distribution company. The film, written by written by Paul Borghese, Andrew Weiss and Catherine Gigante-Brown, will follow the rise and fall of Staten Island street criminal who joins the mob. Joshua Kagan, in association with URL Prods., John Sherman and William DeMeo also will serve as producers.